Coach Billy Bryant...future coaching hall of famer...

[Plasma10]

Ok...as a former player of Coach Bryant, let me speak my peace...i opened this thread so people can take their heads out of (you know) and LOOK AT THE NUMBERS!!!

first off, get off the guys back...he has not done ANYTHING to make people mad.  Just because he's not a loud, boisterous, out spoken coach/person, why do you bash on him?  he is a baseball GENIUS! ask his players...he KNOWS the game.

he's been coaching bc baseball since 2004 (varsity)...what has he done? 04- ranked #3 in state (early exit in playoffs) 05- ranked #4 in state, region III champs, state semi finalist 06-ranked #1 in state, region III champs (again...), state semi finalist, 07 - ranked #2 in state, region III finalist...

the man has brought BC Baseball 3 out of 4 district championships...and who did he lose the district crown to this year? a state tournament qualifying team...NOT TO MENTION he took the #2 team in district to the regional FINALS!!! BEAT the #1 team in the state (carthage)!!!

not to mention when he coached in Buna, he brought Buna to state...come on...BUNA

i go to the games and hear people whine and moan about coach bryant...WHY!!! are you THAT STUPID!!! the ONLY negative remark i hear against him is that "he's an idiot"...and you know that 95% of the people that say that are parents that done really even KNOW him, or even played for him.  people take him not being very outspoken as bein an "idiot."...

if BC ever loses coach bryant, i feel very very very sorry, and if he is ever to be released, then i will be embarassed to be a BC Baseball fan...we've had the great priviledge of having the states TOP QUALITY of coaches come through this program...but NO OTHER BRIDGE CITY COACH HAS EVER DONE WHAT COACH BRYANT HAS DONE!!! not even coach chuck young...

you can safely say, Coach Billy Bryant IS Bridge City Baseball, and I am damn proud to have had him as my coach throughout high school, and these past 2 years, i thouroughly enjoy seeing him futher push the tradition of Bridge City Baseball to all time highs...

Good Luck Coach

[besbolbenbedygud]

injun.......injun.......where's your re-"butt"-al........lol........Great peace Plas.............you cant please'um all but stats don't lie..........having a team with talent......you still need someone to harness that talent.........some people think you can literally let a group of 15-18 year olds run themselves........can't happen........

[cardinal81o7]

just by talking to coach bryant you can tell the guy knows the game...i mean honestly he really really does no lie. and i like the way he is just talking to him one on one 

BUT!! he lacks the ability to teach it...its no fault of his he just cant, sorry.  and maybe its just me but i believe he walked into a baseball heaven when it comes to bc.  and i wish so bad i could have played for someone that mentored and taught kids and instilled something life long in them besides baseball, and when you messed up not jumped all over you 100% of the time.  you cannot even dare to say he is a better coach than coach young....i know most of those who played under young would back him, heck they're trying to get the field renamed after him.  if i think real hard i can only remember coach bryant COACHING 2 things, a slow roller to 3rd and turning two in the middle.  the rest was basically up to us.  so if this is " bashing" im sorry but its something people need to read just as much as the good stuff about him.

after all we went through this year he had one sentence for us after game three vs jasper "i appreciate the seniors help this year, and young guys good luck....in the future" and he said it as cold as you just read it to yourself.  idk maybe he just didnt like our senior class, (and i dont think he did).

one day my freshman year we played in buna, the buna varsity was still taking bp when we got there...coach bryant walked up and sat down behind the cage in a chair and didnt say anything...a buna coach there said "hey....just like last year."

c'mon ben get your head out of (you know)

[Guest Bulldog]

Coach Young built Bridge City Baseball........Coach Bryant just keeps the tradition  alive and well.......Coach Bryant is a very sucessful coach and hopefully he stay's in BC.......

[shadow]

you know this is really not a good thread, it creates such a lightning rod of debate. i don't know what life altering discussions you were looking for .. i played for coach young and the one statement i remember was " never wake a sleeping bear". Two good coaches with different styles and different circumstances surrounding them.

[Guest etbu]

Do the kids like him?

[Hupernikomen]

...

[Guest etbu]

Sounds to me like the man wins alot of games so what is the grind if there is one. Coach Young was a very winning Coach and Coach B sounds to me like he is doing very well to. There are about two hundred schools that would trade places with BC over the past four years.

[Hupernikomen]

Coaches live in glass houses and everything they do will be picked apart.  These men (and women) are human.  Not all of them are going to be "all things to all people."  Hey I don't know the guy like BC folks do, I just don't think you gain much by trashing him on these message boards.  I would be willing to be that he would be glad to sit down and discuss his coaching style with any who aren't happy about it. 

[kramer]

Plasma10........I don't have a opinion either way concerning Coach Bryant, but your Buna comment is very arrogant......You can back your coach without comments like that.......The team you were referring to was very talented and had good coaching too.....

[Hupernikomen]

Plasma10........I don't have a opinion either way concerning Coach Bryant, but your Buna comment is very arrogant......You can back your coach without comments like that.......The team you were referring to was very talented and had good coaching too.....

Agreed and they have a history of being good, as was seen this year.

[figureitout]

i thought i saw the word GENIUS.  WOW.

doesnt know how to throw up the stop sign or keep waving his hand.  GENIUS.

[Gabe]

Is beating a dead horse the best way for some people to feel better about themselves? Let it go already.

[Plasma10]

ok folks...i am NOT tryin to make enemies here at all...all i was tryin to get across was the parents of BC to STOP down-grading coach Bryant.  all i heard in the stands (and delano i KNOW you didn't hear...) was people trashin coach bryant...and the ONLY reason was because they called him an "idiot"...and ONLY because he wasn't a vocal coach...in 05 i cant say he was much of a "mentoring coach" as you wished he was, but, he did keep us in line and keep us into the game, and when we were in Austin, he pumped us up beyond belief....it was unreal....it just took at 14th Pittsburgh Pirate draft pick pitcher to beat us... (and yes...i've kept tabs...it still gets to me...)...

the only message i was HOPING to send was, even though coach bryant may not be the vocal, enthusiastic (coach moore...who was also a GREAT coach for BC)  coach...he has his OWN style...that has proven to win, and regardless he "ran into a gold mine of talent" like they said, it takes a great coach to "harnest that talent"...

[Red1]

I like Coach Bryant.  I don't like his interpersonal skills.

I think he could do more "coaching", he has passed on opportunitys to improve a bunch of kids he has come in contact with.

Do I want him to leave.......NOPE.  The only thing worse would be to have a assistant coach take his place.  Ever wonder why the previous assistant coach's are not, anymore?

Can BC baseball get better?  You bet!!  Can Coach Bryant take them there?  You bet he could, all he has to do is improve his interpersonal skills, coach more and motivate or change his assistants.

[Guest kosmo]

I have said it before and I'll say it again.  He is riding the coat tails of great talent.  BC has had some great ball players come through in the last few years.  My kid could turn in a lineup and win with those groups of players.

[Hupernikomen]

I have said it before and I'll say it again.  He is riding the coat tails of great talent.  BC has had some great ball players come through in the last few years.  My kid could turn in a lineup and win with those groups of players.

Wow..makes you wonder why all those talented NBA teams don't just win every game doesn't it.

[besbolbenbedygud]

some will never get it........it takes more than just a lineup card............I'm not from BC but talent or not he win's..........until that changes.......I don't understand why he gets all of this from people that should be supporting him (in his own town)..................guess you have to live there...........not sure i would want to??

It would be nice if coaches had a list of employment of each one of their players parents.......then after a night of taking it in the ear from a parent or after sitting through listening of how little jonny is the best player ever but cant hit a fair ball in BP........you could take that list look up their place of employment make a surprise visit ( with your lawn chair of course).....sit and critique every decision that they make throughout a 4 hour period............. ;D what a dream....................lol

[Guest Bulldog]

Coach Bryant is a coach....not a baby sitter. He has to put the talent together in a way so it works to it's full potential.......and he does a great job at it by the way.....

[retiredoldcoach]

I have said it before and I'll say it again.  He is riding the coat tails of great talent.  BC has had some great ball players come through in the last few years.  My kid could turn in a lineup and win with those groups of players.

Kosmo

I am not sure that your coat tail theory holds true.  BC rode the arm of Angelle to the playoffs right? 

MLB drafted three year BC pitcher Dan Fletcher (90+) mph and he never played in one high school playoff game.

The Fletcher, Blacksher, Knight, Hayes, Sanders groups never came close to sniffing the regional finals, much less the state tournament. 

I ask Kosmo, Could your kid turn in a lineup and win with them?

Their coat tails must not have been long enough.  And don't tell me that they did not have a supporting cast because those teams were very talented.

There is something called over coaching.  It is saying something simply so that you are saying something.  It is coaching when the best thing to have said was nothing.  Coach Bryant coaches only when it is beneficial to make a change.

Coach Bryant does not coach for the crowd which I have witnessed by numerous coaches over the years.  They want you to know just how much they know.  They also want to let you know that every mistake that the team makes is something that they have worked with them on.  This distances them from the failure. 

There could be something that a player does a little wrong, but the time to change it might not be during a game, or even during a season for that matter, especially in the playoffs.  Trying to do it the "right" way may make him less successful at doing it at all and could possibly take this kid out of contention for even being on the field.  The coach must decide whether to make a technique change, then decide at what point in time to make the change that will be most beneficial to the team.

He might even decide that the player and the team will be more successful with the player sticking with the unorthodox technique.  This is what you call not coaching. I call it leaving them alone so they have a better chance to succeed. I call it trying to win.

Take away about fifteen errors made in three games by the Cards and Coach Bryant would be coaching or “not coaching as you put it†in Round Rock Texas tonight for the gold.

Just trying to give you a perspective from the other side of the fence.

roc

This is just me, but if I were Coach Bryant, I would use my "poor interpersonal skills" to tell you people to stick it where the sun does'nt shine, and I would take my ability to take baseball teams further than expected, elsewhere.

[MIF04]

As in any good argument, both the 'pro' and 'con' points of view offer at least a kernel of truth with their positions.

1.  "You can't argue with success".  No one doubts that Coach Bryant's teams (both in BC and in Buna) have won.  That record speaks for itself.  Nearly any HS in Texas would be proud to have that record.  The flip side would ask whether that record occurred because of, or in spite of, the coach.  It is equally true that BC has had an extraordinary run of talent come through their school.  It is a good baseball town with an outstanding youth program, etc.  Some credit needs to go there as well.  ADVANTAGE:  Pro-Bryant

2.  "He is not a people person".  Or, to put it another way, he is not a 'players' coach.  This is a matter of style.  Personally, some (me included) may not like Bryant's style but being quiet, or aloof, or non-approachable is a matter of choice.   There is a more disturbing criticism of Coach Bryant and that concerns his unwillingness to help his players with respect to colleges, etc.  He has ignored requests from colleges, MLB scouts, etc. under the guise of "I don't want any prima donnas on my team".  I agree with the theory but part of the man's job is to help his players beyond the HS baseball field.  Compare and contrast his efforts to what Coach Griff does over at LCM.  ADVANTAGE:  Anti-Bryant

3.  "He is not a good game coach".  This criticism is levied at him concerning everything from how he practices to whether he doesn't bunt enough to how he handled Joe Robertson rounding 3rd.  First, he deserves a break on the play at the end of the Jasper game.  That happens to every 3rd base coach from Pee Wee League to the Big Leagues.  Everyone at that game has an opinion (me included).  It happens and let it go.  Beyond that, the critiques of how he 'runs a game' have some merit.  He appears to forget some things (like a courtesy runner for his catcher) and, at times, looks like nothing more than a spectator waiting to see what will happen.  In game 3 vs. Needville, he started the Clark kid...before the fact, there was a collective groan but...after the game, it was pure genius.  Sometimes, a coach's strategy is not measured by how good a strategy it may be but how it turns out.  Overall, things have turned out pretty well for BC over the years.  The comment has been made that he doesn't 'over coach'.  That is a true statement.  The flip side is whether he really coach at all.  Again, that is a matter of taste, I guess.  Does he sometimes get out-coached (i.e., Jasper series)?  Yes.  Does every coach, at some point, get out-coached?  Yes.  ADVANTAGE:  No comment.

One last point...about the suggestion that Coach Bryant telling everyone to 'stick it' and taking himself to some other school...That is certainly his choice but I haven't seen much to make me think he is truly in that high a demand.  I don't mean that in a disrespectful way to Coach Bryant, only to state a fact.     

So, if you answer the questions "Is he a future Coaching Hall of Famer" based on wins and losses, the answer is 'yes'.  If you add other criteria, the answer isn't as clear.  I would remind everyone that Bryant is a HS coach at a 3A school.  If its only about baseball, then judge him on his W and Ls.  If being a HS coach is more than that, then everyone needs to form his or her own opinion on those other issues.  I have my opinion and I am sure everyone else has theirs. 

Congratulations to the Cardinals on a good run this season.  Once again, some very good players have come through BC and all of their fans have had the opportunity to witness both good players and good kids.  Fortunately for BC, the talent pool has not run dry.  Next year promises to be yet another good season.  Best of luck in 2008.

[AHUDDLESTON]

I am one of his former assistants.  The only reason that I left was for a better situation career wise.  I was looking for a house in Bridge City when I received my current job as Defensive Coordinator.  Billy is a very good coach and I would coach for him again if the opportunity is there.  As for as helping get athletes to college, ask the ones attending now if he helped them.

[injun]

Ok...as a former player of Coach Bryant, let me speak my peace...i opened this thread so people can take their heads out of (you know) and LOOK AT THE NUMBERS!!!

first off, get off the guys back...he has not done ANYTHING to make people mad.  Just because he's not a loud, boisterous, out spoken coach/person, why do you bash on him?  he is a baseball GENIUS! ask his players...he KNOWS the game.

he's been coaching bc baseball since 2004 (varsity)...what has he done? 04- ranked #3 in state (early exit in playoffs) 05- ranked #4 in state, region III champs, state semi finalist 06-ranked #1 in state, region III champs (again...), state semi finalist, 07 - ranked #2 in state, region III finalist...

the man has brought BC Baseball 3 out of 4 district championships...and who did he lose the district crown to this year? a state tournament qualifying team...NOT TO MENTION he took the #2 team in district to the regional FINALS!!! BEAT the #1 team in the state (carthage)!!!

not to mention when he coached in Buna, he brought Buna to state...come on...BUNA

i go to the games and hear people whine and moan about coach bryant...WHY!!! are you THAT STUPID!!! the ONLY negative remark i hear against him is that "he's an idiot"...and you know that 95% of the people that say that are parents that done really even KNOW him, or even played for him.  people take him not being very outspoken as bein an "idiot."...

if BC ever loses coach bryant, i feel very very very sorry, and if he is ever to be released, then i will be embarassed to be a BC Baseball fan...we've had the great priviledge of having the states TOP QUALITY of coaches come through this program...but NO OTHER BRIDGE CITY COACH HAS EVER DONE WHAT COACH BRYANT HAS DONE!!! not even coach chuck young...

you can safely say, Coach Billy Bryant IS Bridge City Baseball, and I am dang proud to have had him as my coach throughout high school, and these past 2 years, i thouroughly enjoy seeing him futher push the tradition of Bridge City Baseball to all time highs...

Good Luck Coach

All I heard in this post is He did this and he did that..Funny how you want to give him all of the credit for the wins but no blame for the losses..I know errors were the biggest part of the losses to Jasper and I'm sure in your opinoin "HE" had nothing to do with losing these games..You guys always talk about how much talent this other team

has and they didn't go to the Regionals or the World series..Alot of that has to do with the Chemistry of a team. Believe me there are a bunch of "Great Coaches" in MLB or the NBA that dont get to the big games simply because they didn't have the TALENT to get there..

[besbolbenbedygud]

"I agree with the theory but part of the man's job is to help his players beyond the HS baseball field.  Compare and contrast his efforts to what Coach Griff does over at LCM. " from MIF04

Just to clarify...........no coaching contract for High School states you have to help players beyond the HS baseball field ( the best player agent a high school athlete has is his parents.....you know that probably from experience MIF)...........I think that's a coaches personal choice.......(my personal choice would be to help...not helping would be a bad choice in my opinion)........Coach Griff and Coach Anderson(WO-S) are probably the best (Anderson would still help a kid if he felt he could)...........I think wins and scholarships go hand in hand.....if your kids are going to College for baseball you probably have a successful program.........But you can caravan an eighteen wheeler full of kids a summer all across camps in Texas........but if your not winning your probably not going to be around long..........

[cardinal81o7]

this is the last thing im going to say about this...

for one to get a true perspective i guess you would have to go through 4 years of "his" program and see what goes on and how he handles things.  some guys like him, and thats fine.  but some want to rip on him all year long....AND OPENLY FOR THAT MATTER and when the seasons over...be buddy buddy w/ him on the internet...and im not gonna back down just because i dont have to play for him anymore....or make nice because i get to play in college...lets say at lamar for example.  and his assistance typically last 2-3 years...no need to elaborate.

last point:  have you seen our facilities?? they're the worst in setx when they should be top noch...but they are a direct reflection on the coach...sorry

he might not get the funds he wants...but he sure doesnt try to make friends  :